Carlsen Surprisingly Loses In 4th Round, Chess Olympiad

25 September 2010, Khanty-Mansiysk – In the Chess Olympiad where all players come ready for a tough battle on the chess board, even the World’s No. 1 was not spared this pitfall. GM Magnus Carlsen, representing his home country, Norway, surprisingly lost his board 1 match-up against GM Baadur Jobava of Georgia during fourth round of play of the chess Olympiad 2010 in Siberia, Russia.

[Event "39th Olympiad Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 Open"]
[Site "Khanty-Mansiysk/Russia"]
[Date "2010.09.24"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Jobava, Baadur"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E24"]
[WhiteElo "2710"]
[BlackElo "2826"]
[EventDate "2010.09.24"]
[WhiteTeam "Georgia"]
[BlackTeam "Norway"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "GEO"]
[BlackTeamCountry "NOR"]
[TimeControl "40/5400+30:1800+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 Nc6 6. e4 Nxe4 7. Qg4 f5 8.Qxg7 Qf6 9. Qxf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 b6 11. d5 Na5 12. Nd4 Kf7 13. dxe6+ dxe6 14. Bf4 Ba6 15. Nf3 Ne4 16. Ne5+ Kf6 17. f3 Nd6 18. O-O-O Rhd8 19. h4 Nf7 20. Nd7+ Kg7 21. Rh3 Kh8 22. Bg5 Nxg5 23. hxg5 Kg7 24. Rh6 Bxc4 25. Bxc4 Nxc4 26. Rdh1 Rh8 27. f4 c5 28. Rxe6 Rae8 29. Rxh7+ Rxh7 30. Rxe8 Kf7 31. Ra8 Rh1+ 32. Kc2 a5 33. Ra7 Nxa3+ 34. Kd2 Rh2 35. Nxb6+ Kg6 36. Rxa5 Rxg2+ 37. Kd1 Nb1 38. Rxc5 Nd2 39. Nd5 Ne4 40. Rc6+ Kf7 41. Ne3 Rg3 42. Ke2 Ke8 43. Re6+ Kf7 44. Re5 Nxc3+ 45. Kf2 Rh3 46. Rxf5+ Kg6 47. Rf6+ Kg7 48. Nf5+ Kg8 49. Kg2 Rd3 50. Rd6 Ne2 51. Rg6+ Kh8 52. Rh6+ Kg8 53. Ne7+ Kf7 54. Ng6 Kg7 55. Kf2 Nc3 56. Ne7 Ne4+ 57. Ke2 Ra3 58. Nf5+ Kg8 59. Re6 Nc3+ 60. Kf3 Nd5+ 61. Kg4 Ra1 62. Re5 Rg1+ 63. Kf3 Rf1+ 64. Ke4 1-0

Since the chess Olympiad is a team event, Carlsen may have wanted to end it early as his compatriots on the Norway team has lost the overall score and meaningless for him to pursue a remote board 1 win for Norway at this point of the game, reserving his energy for upcoming critical chess board games.

Below is the scores achieved by the Norwegian chess team. They had won the earlier three rounds against Jamaica, Portugal and Russia 5. But failed to get past Georgia. Norway lost 0.5-3.5 to Georgia.